HST Love? Maybe.

This is a little pillow top I started the first week of November as a Christmas gift.   

I'd just finished a last minute (selfish sewing!), Halloween HST pillow and I wasn't quite ready to put away the Halloween fabrics.  Besides, my VGF loves Halloween as much as I do, so receiving a Halloween pillow in December is no big deal.

I wanted to make it different than the one I'd just completed and I've always loved the medallion layout.  

With a few scraps she'd just sent me, as well as a selection of purple, orange, and black charm squares from two of Moda's Halloween lines - the Boo Crew by Sweetwater and Monster Bash from Sandy Gervais - I put this together really fast. 

Simple straight line quilting  a quarter inch apart also made this a really quick finish.  Just a couple of lines in the white bands and denser quilting within the colored bands added subtle texture.  I like how this doesn't scream Halloween.

So in the space of about a week, not one, but two HST projects finished.  

I can't say I like piecing and trimming HSTs any better, but I can say with practice, their precise lines look pretty darn awesome.  

While I'm playing catch up, I really really wish I had my sewing machine on this trip.  But if I did, I wouldn't be posting.  

Happy New Year y'all!

Cindy

Cross Something Off

My friends that know me, understand that being late is part of my charm, personality.
  

I go full out, often over committing, and consequently, run smack into deadlines like a speeding car hitting a brick wall.  It's not pretty.  However, I recover nicely and continue on as if nothing happened.  For this reason, I work best independently.  No point in frustrating others because of my idiosyncrasies.

Now that Halloween has passed and all of our school and family activities are completed, I've had time to actually sit and sew.  Sew for some of the swaps I signed-up for. 

This is a pillow cover I started the first part of October.  It was for a private swap from the Modernista Homemade Flickr group.

This morning, I finally finished all of my items. 

I know we said we'd do small things, but I just love pillow covers.  

Erica is receiving a pillow cover, a small lined container, and a QAYG potholder.  And a pair of cute Halloween spider socks because 1) I can't resist cute socks and 2) I don't wear them because I live in FL.  

I also have TONS of Halloween scraps, strips, and stash.  Sadly, this didn't even make a dent in it.  

From Erica, I received this adorable spider pincushion (we even have some of the same stash, just different colorways!), a crocheted dish towel, and a medium size goody basket. 

I love how she echo quilted the spider webs! 

More spiders on the goody basket, as well as hand quilting!  The lining fabric is something I also have stashed.  

I think I made out pretty good.  I hope Erica likes her items as much as I LOVE mine.  The best part though, came in the note Erica wrote.  "I had intentions of getting this sent earlier, but things got crazy."

Obviously, she and I have similar worlds.  It's okay to be late.  

I'm linking up to Amanda Jean's Finish it Up Friday because I really did just finish today!

Happy Friday!!     

Can There Be Too Much Halloween?

Not in my world. 

This is what I've made, Halloween-wise, recently. 

First there was the Spoo-ky Swap I instigated via Facebook the day after our September guild meeting.  I had 10 or 11 takers, which was exciting because most  had never participated in a swap.  

My partner was Amy, who loves Halloween as much as I do.  I made her three small items - a coffee cosy, an improv-pieced stand-up bag/container, and a little ticker-tape mini quilt. 

This is the ONLY picture of them, and a not very good one at that.  

I began working on what I thought would be two pillow covers for another swap.

Neither has made it out of the WiP pile.  

I did some selfish sewing for me. 

I spend Wednesdays at my friend Bobbi's.  She and I had our children in the same school, during which time we'd visit our favorite LQS and Mexican hole-in-the-wall restaurant, bonding over fabric and food.  Now that her daughter is homeschooled, that doesn't happen.  

So Wednesday mornings, I pack cram a good portion of my sewing supplies and my children into the car, drop them (the kids) at school, and head up to Bobbi's.

She also participated in our guild's Spoo-ky Swap.  Last week, while rummaging through her scrap bag, I found all of her leftover HSTs.  They were calling my name!  I made a few more; added some of my scraps (the lime spiders) and by the end of the night, I had a pillow cover!

Thursday was the big day.  We cleaned.  I cooked.  The neighborhood driveway party happened as it does every year.  The kids trick-or-treated.  

  
Sunday and yesterday, still feeling the Halloween vibe, I played with more black, orange, and purples to make this.  

So you see, even though it's November, the Halloween spirit is still hanging out at my house.

I am linking up with Lee over at freshly pieced for WiP wednesday and Kelly from My Quilt Infatuation for Needle and Thread Thursday.  

   

Motivated

As I've mentioned previously, I'm really good about starting projects.  Terrible about finishing them.  

Example:  These piles of 2.5" strips.  Halloween fabrics and coordinating others collected over MANY years.  Some from JoAnn's.  Some from Hancock's.  Some from Walmart.  Some good ones from A&E.  

I cut them because I was inspired by this:

Riel's Scrappy Strippy Halloween Quilt was simple.  It was colorful.  It was bright.  It used Halloween fabrics.  It was EARLY October 2011.  Sure, I could do this.  Sure, it would be finished by Halloween.  No problem.

However, my quilting world is never that neat or quick.  Those strips have lingered. 

I keep meaning to get back to them, but something else always catches my attention.

I rifled through them numerous times this past September and October when I was making Trick-or-Eek! bags. 

I pulled some of them out for our guild's, ECMQG, 1 year anniversary scrap swap challenge.  Leslie made me a fantastic table runner!

I pulled from them again two weeks ago when I was creating this little presentation bag for the mini-quilt I entered in a quilt show.

Heck, they were my go to fabrics when I pieced those mini-quilts, Fright Night, for L, and Monste-Madness for Jean.

  
So they're being used.  Just not as I originally thought.

However, I am trying to get back to that original inspiration.  See? (Ok, I need to rotate that picture.)  

  
A little bit each week.  And maybe, just maybe, I'll have a large, bright, scrappy, strippy Halloween quilt this year.

We'll see.  

I Can't Keep A Surprise

I had to ask for a gift back.  This. 

 

Because I entered it in a quilt show. 

And as I found out, when you enter a project in a quilt show, there are submission guidelines as to how it's supposed to be presented.  Like a label.  Still have to do that.  Like a way to hang it.  Thank goodness this is a mini quilt, and L sewed two little rings to the back when she received it from me.

But it also needed a presentation bag.  Yes, a pillowcase would be acceptable, but it would be TOO big.  Plus, I wanted to surprise L as I'd had to ask for her gift back.  

And I knew EXACTLY what bag I wanted to make.  This one.  My favorite.  It's SO easy because Jeni's instructions are clear and precise.  Besides, I've made a gazillion of them now.  That's how much I love it.

But this bag had to be special.  I knew I was going to make improv wonky stars and I knew I had more than enough Halloween scraps.  I knew, because this is for my besty after all, that I was going to use black and gray, and that kitty-with-the glowing-eyes print.

Well, I can't keep surprises.  As soon as I this little wonky star block came together, I took a quick picture with the iPhone and sent it to her. 

So here it is.  Front.

And the back.

Together.  All ready for the show.

I really can't keep a surprise.  

Playing

Now that I am the blogger for our guild, ECMQG, I feel the urge to put more here.  There's still something about putting my little world out there that unsettles me.  But, as I seem to keep pushing others to come out of their comfort zones, I have to do the same.  


Today I am pulling out my Halloween fabrics (not that they were ever really "put away") to make a bag for this little mini quilt I entered in a local show, the 2013 Emerald Coast Quilt Retreat and Show. 

Funny, when we were "challenged" to enter a quilt, I thought nothing of it.  Other quilt-y friends, found it uncomfortable. Not that I have any aspirations about winning.  Because I don't.  I'm just thrilled to have a chance to show what I love doing with others.  Others who may not be modern quilters.  Others who sew and quilt and who LOVE fabrics and color, but are not as apt to "play" like I do.  Others who may have taken a sewing class years ago, but haven't "played" with fabric in too long of a time.  Others, like me, who don't draw or paint, but can fill that creative desire, by "playing" with fabrics.  To me, it's all just play.

The little bag I'm making for this quilt to travel to the show in is none other than Jeni Baker's lined drawstring bag.  I love it (obviously).  It's super easy.

So while it's February and the predominant colors are white (snow), gray (clouds), brown (dead grass like where I grew up in Virginia), red (Valentine's), or pink (Valentine's again) I'm going to go play with orange, and black, and purple, and chartreuse, and gray.    

This is Halloween! (WAS)

Well all of this would've been relevant if I'd pressed the publish button in October instead of February.  Such is life.

Queue The Nightmare Before Christmas.  This is Halloween, this is Halloween.  Pumpkins scream in the dead of night.

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1st set of Trick-or-Eek! lined drawstring bags.  Our guild, ECMQG is participating in a bazaar at the end of the month.  I won't be there as it's Fall Festival Day at my children's school, so I'm making these medium sized bags for our booth.  It's the weekend before Halloween, so these babies ought to sell, right?  Nope, none sold.  Bummer.   Fabrics for these are from stash (yes!), and recent purchases.  Back in May, (or was it June?), I fell head-over-heels in love with the ghosties, fabric during a visit to my LQS.  Had.To.Have.It.  

2nd set of Trick-or-Eek lined drawstring bags.  From Jeni Baker's tutorial.  Serious Halloween love happening in my world.  Some of these fabrics are from my summer road trip (FL to DE and back) buying spree.  I fell instantly in love with the monsters and the hearses.  Most of these are from the Eerie Alley 3 collection by Robert Kaufman.

A little something for my VGF (very good friend) who started me on this quilting journey. We both ADORE Halloween.  She's in Virginia where the weather is cool and crisp and where there are pumpkin patches.  I live along the shores of the Gulf of Mexico where 90° days in October skew the fact that  it is, indeed fall, and not summer.  

I hope you're being creative today. 

Production Day

No sewing today.  Just fabric selection and cutting for the latest batch of Trick-or-Eek! lined drawstring bags.  MANY of the Halloween fabrics in my stash didn't make it into this pull.  Is there such a thing as too many Halloween fabrics?  Maybe.  Some people in my family would say so. I don't think I belong to that line of thinking though.

These are the fabric sets for the 14 bags that need to be sewn.  I think my favorite is the 3rd row down, 3rd set on the right - medium black spiders and webs on an apple green background.  I coordinated it with the large white ovals on chartreuse from Robert Kaufman's Celebrate Seuss! collection.  They remind me of GIANT spider eggs!!  How scary is that?  With that thought, off to sew I go.  

Monste-Madnes Mini

This is definitely a first - 2 posts in one day.

I am heading out to a social function tonight and made a hostess gift for Jean.  What I had originally planned morphed into something else entirely, of course.  Here is a mini quilt which I've named Monste-Madnes because of that adorable green monster in the upper right corner and because that's the only part of the text that's visible.   

Some of my scrappy Halloween stars, the monster madness strip was from a bandanna I found after Halloween last year.  The gray and purple strips with the flying bats and the owls sitting in the tree are actually fussy cut from something I purchased this year.  Can't think of which line it's from right now.    

The back is pieced - more of the graveyard fence line.  The light gray cross-hatch shows off the quilting lines rather well.  These are free motion stars stitched in charcoal and orange  This little mini finished up at 13 x 14 inches. 

I think she'll like it.  Oh, I do SO love Halloween!   

Fright Night Mini

Fright Night Mini for my longtime best friend who has no idea it's headed her way.  Actually, never even mentioned I was making anything special for her.  For years, I would receive the BEST little gifts from her - quilted bags, little play shorts for my kiddos, little bags, etc.  However, she's stopped sewing for reasons too numerous to delve into.  I, on the other hand, have turned the dining room into my quilting room.  Luckily, I have an understanding family - thank you.  I am so excited to be able to send her something.  Love you L.  Wish we lived closer than 877 miles apart.